Toshiba Corp. is believed to have an advantage over its French and Russian competitors in its bid to build nuclear power plants in Finland and the Czech Republic, with winners of contracts for the projects to be announced next year, according to sources.

As the combined cost of the projects is as much as 1.54 trillion yen (US$17.93 billion), a successful bid by Toshiba would give a much-needed boost to this nation's nuclear technology exports.

Finland plans to newly build a 1.6 million-kilowatt boiling water reactor at a cost of 4 billion euros to 6 billion euros (US$7.94 billion). Toshiba is competing against French counterpart Areva SA for the order.

However, as construction of a plant Areva won an order to build in Finland has been delayed more than five years, Toshiba is believed to have an advantage in terms of reliability.

Czech Republic plans to build two 1 million-kilowatt AP1000 pressurised water reactors for more than 10 billion dollars (860 billion yen). Toshiba is competing with Russia's Atomstroyexport JSC for the order. However, as the Czech government has been cautious about depending on Russia in its energy policy and as the US government has expressed support of Toshiba, it is said to be the likely winner in this contest as well.

A successful European nuclear export bid by Toshiba, which is already building nuclear plants in the United States and China, would help it expand its business into such nations as Vietnam and Turkey.